


alive and richly colored

by electroniccollectiondonut



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family Fluff, Gen, caranthir and haleth and caranthir's wife are all three dating each other, there's a small mention of recreational drug use in case that bothers you, this is post mae gets his hand cut off but feanor and finwe arent dead because i said so, this is really self indulgent and i just did whatever i wanted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24035569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/electroniccollectiondonut/pseuds/electroniccollectiondonut
Summary: Maedhros comes home to his family's house in Formenos after two years away for college. He comes bearing gifts.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 35





	alive and richly colored

**Author's Note:**

> Formenos here is roughly analogous to Telluride Colorado because I wanted an excuse to have Mae ride the gondola and do some light introspection because that's the best part about being in Telluride, but I've changed things up wherever I felt like it.
> 
> In this, Maedhros is 24, Caranthir is 16, Haleth is 16, Hannah (who is my version of Caranthir's wife when I write canonverse fics except that I've modernized her name) is 16, Curufin is 13, Amrod and Amras are 4, Nerdanel is 40 and Feanor is 39. Maglor and Celegorm aren't here but they're 23 and 19 respectively.
> 
> I may or may not write more in this AU.

The digital clock on the dash read 7:28 pm when Maedhros pulled into the underground parking lot in Lower Formenos. It was in the more touristy part of the city, made up of condos for rent by the day or the week with expensive shops and food carts lining the streets and signs on windows advertising for everything from rock climbing tours to art classes. It was late May, already well into festival season, and most, if not all, of the snow in the valley was melted and flowing downstream. It was still fairly cold, though, and the high mountains surrounding the city meant that night fell early even in the middle of the summer, and Maedhros didn’t want to drive the twisting pass between Lower and Upper Formenos in the dark, especially not in his little car that was really meant for the smooth, flat streets of downtown Tirion, not the mountains.

He grabbed a colorfully embroidered tote bag from the passenger seat, one that a nine year old Caranthir had gifted him several years ago and which, much to the now teenaged Caranthir’s mortification, Maedhros still carried around proudly to this day. It was full of gifts for his parents and his brothers who’d made it home for the summer before he had, those being the four youngest, as Celegorm was ending out his senior year with a two week camping trip in Fangorn Forest with his classmates from St Orome’s and Maglor was in Alqualonde until June teaching music workshops and probably getting high on the beach with groups of his adoring fans.

Maedhros grabbed a duffel bag from the floorboard as well, this one containing pajamas, a change of clothes, and basic toiletries. He locked his car, he’d come back and get it tomorrow, and took the elevator out of the parking lot, coming out into the lobby of the building above. He stepped out onto the narrow sidewalk, considering. It may have been getting dark already, but there were plenty of tourists walking the streets, though not as many as there would be if the ski slopes were still open.

Which meant that, while the main roads would get him to the gondola station faster, they were full of people who would look at his scars and his prosthetic hand and pity him even though they knew nothing about him or about what he had lived through. He decided to take the river road, a neat little dirt path for joggers and cyclists that ran parallel to the river from the parking lot all the way to the park on the other side of town.

It was good to be home, to be walking paths that he knew from a decade and a half of walking them with an ever growing collection of brothers. For all that he loved Tirion and university, visiting the carefully curated arboretum on campus just wasn’t the same as being able to reach out to either side and touch a real tree that hadn’t been trimmed and grown to look perfectly lovely.

Music was playing quietly in his earbuds, something slow and soft and obscure that Maglor had recommended when he’d first discovered Hozier a few years ago, and it mingled well with the sound of the river rolling next to him and coarse dirt shifting a little under his feet. It didn’t mix so well with the loud whirring inside the gondola station as Maedhros adjusted the strap of his duffel on his shoulder and walked through the singles line.

There was a group of six before him, all wearing sturdy boots they really didn’t need that marked them as tourists, probably planning to go on a night hike or something like that. The gondola operator waved Maedhros on with them, and he sat on the left side of the carriage, adjacent the door. He turned his music up until he couldn’t hear the group’s chatter, though the rhythm itself was still slow and gentle.

He watched the landscape pass by below as the rocking of the carriage exiting the station steadied out into a smooth climb, pretty and scenic in a way he would never be able to take for granted. The westernmost prong of Formenos Valley stretched out into the distance, cast in deep shadow, with hills and fields cut through by the river, reflecting the last rays of sunlight and turning them to little drops of liquid gold in the blue grey landscape. As the carriage climbed higher, to the top off just before they entered High Mountain Station, the setting sun became visible for an instant, a shining sliver on the distant horizon, just barely peeking through the mountains ringing them in.

It was there and gone again before any of the tourists could get out their phones to take a picture, and the six of them were left crowded up to the window, the gondola rocking just a little as they sat back down, disappointed. They got off at High Mountain Station, and Maedhros nodded when the operator asked if he was staying on until Upper Formenos, even though his music was still playing too loudly for him to actually hear the question. He’d lived here long enough to know that it had been asked.

He turned the music back down as the gondola carriage descended. The eastern prong of Formenos Valley was now spread out for his viewing, Upper Formenos Village nestled in the center like a glittering jewel, with golden light spilling out from most every window to signal that things were still open even though it was dark nearly half an hour now. His eyes sought out his family’s house in the residential part of the town out of long habit that apparently hadn’t been broken even though he’d scarcely been back here the last two years, finishing up an education that he’d had to put on hold for a while after his amputation.

The gondola rocked its way into the next station and Maedhros stood, gathering his things and preparing for the little bouncing step that would carry him clear of the still moving carriage as the doors slid open. It had taken him months to get the hang of that as a child, when they’d first moved here back when he’d still only had two brothers but their family was outgrowing their modern style Tirion apartment anyway because he hadn’t known yet that Mom was pregnant with Caranthir.

The walk to the house wasn’t long, though it was a little cold and the sidewalk was narrow, railed on either side by the last vestiges of winter snow that would likely cling until it really got hot in August, and maybe all year if it was a mild summer. It was all of five or six minutes before the house was towering over him, three stories nestled into the foothills like it had been there forever even though Maedhros knew for a fact that it had not been so big when his parents had first bought it.

Light glowed from several of the front and side windows, setting the greenhouse all aglitter like a great crystal on the side lawn and casting the wooden toys discarded all over the yard by the twins in sharp relief. The stone path to the door was clear, marked with chalk drawings of various skill levels illuminated by the little lanterns staked into the grass to line the path’s edges. As Maedhros moved closer to the door, he could hear voices from inside, the easy, content chatter of an evening spent sitting together as a family.

He knocked, three light raps on the door, and the voices quietened. The door was opened a moment later by Caranthir, who looked at Maedhros, then at the tote bag in his hand, and groaned.

“You’re still carrying that old thing around?” he asked, stepping aside to let Maedhros into the entryway. It was, as always, piled with shoes. Maedhros kicked off his own shoes and followed Caranthir into the living room, where everyone was seated.

Mom and Dad were sitting together on the loveseat, talking over a sketchbook in soft tones. Caranthir’s long standing girlfriend Hannah was seated on one end of the couch with a purple notebook propped up on her knees, and their new girlfriend Haleth, who Maedhros had thus far only met over video chat, was stretched out next to her looking through a garden catalogue. To Haleth’s right was one of Caranthir’s big embroidery hoops, an image just started in the center. Curufin was lying on a throw blanket on the floor glancing between the TV and his phone. The twins were on the opposite end of the couch, curled together under a quilt and sharing a bowl of mini crackers with Curufin, looking more asleep than awake.

Maedhros had all of three seconds to take this in before Caranthir said, “Hey!” and suddenly all eyes turned them. There was a moment of stillness before Curufin scrambled up, his blanket sliding a little on the smooth wooden floor, and threw himself at Maedhros. Socked feet slipped backward at the sudden weight, but he’d taught four rambunctious brothers how to skate down the halls in their socks, he had plenty of practice at not falling over when someone slammed into him.

“You’re home early,” Curufin said, slightly muffled against Maedhros’s jacket. Maedhros ran his hand through his little brother’s hair like he’d done when Curufin was little. He wore it long, just like Dad, though it was a lot finer than Dad’s.

“There was a last minute scheduling change. And you’re bigger,” Maedhros replied. It was true. Counting video calls and short visits during spring and fall breaks, Maedhros had barely seen his home in two years. The last time he’d seen Curufin for any significant amount of time, they’d all been staying at Grandpa’s house in Tirion while Maedhros finished up his last few days of physical therapy after his amputation. Then, Curufin had been very proudly eleven years old. Now, he was just a couple weeks shy of turning fourteen.

When Curufin released him, he held up the tote bag, adding a touch more flair to the motion than was strictly necessary. “I brought presents!” The statement served the double purpose of forestalling more hugs and making everyone in the room smile at least a little.

“Okay,” Maedhros said once he had their attention and no one was trying to maul him with affection. He reached into the bag and withdrew two little drawstring pouches, the fancy velvet kind. He handed one to Curufin and tossed the other to Dad. “Some cool looking rocks I picked up hiking for Dad and Curufin, because you don’t like it when I buy you jewelry that’s already made.”

The next thing to come out of the bag was a flattish wooden box. This he passed more carefully to Mom. “When I called a couple days ago you mentioned that you’d probably need a new set of chisels before the Mine Festival. They’re not fancy or anything but they’re sturdy.” Which, as Mom knew, was well worth the expense. He handed a larger box to Haleth. “I don’t know you very well yet, so I had to ask Caranthir and Hannah what to get you, and they said you like knives.”

“Whoa,” Haleth said as she opened the box. There were several knives of varying sizes and shapes. The steel of the blades was forged with a pretty twisting pattern and the handles were smooth, pale wood.

“They’re not just decorative, so be careful,” Maedhros said. Haleth nodded distractedly, busy trying to figure out how to get the knives out of the packaging without cutting herself. A book on knitting went to Caranthir. “You mentioned wanting to learn, and you haven’t yet or you’d have sent me a scarf or something to brag about it.” Caranthir flushed a little, telling Maedhros that his guess was accurate.

To Hannah he handed an envelope. “Three VIP tickets to Shakespeare in the Park in Tirion this summer. Aunt Anaire mentioned that a couple of your favorite acting companies are going to be there and Grandpa’s on all the festival committees, so he pulled some strings.” Hannah looked ecstatic, waving the envelope in Caranthir and Haleth’s faces and bouncing a little in her seat.

Next, Maedhros produced a rectangle pastry box that was remarkably not squashed. He set it on the coffee table. “Breakfast pastries for tomorrow morning, from that bakery in Tirion we all like. And finally,” he said, sitting down on the floor so that he was at eye level with the twins even though they were already mostly asleep, “I have Hot Wheels and plastic dinosaurs and markers for you two to play with tomorrow.” As he’d expected, they nodded sleepily in response, and Maedhros used the arm of the couch to haul himself back to his feet, wincing a little when some of his joints cracked. He was really not in shape to be chasing after baby brothers anymore, and no amount of physical therapy was going to change that.

The hugs were unavoidable now, and when that was done, Maedhros sat down in the big armchair by the fireplace, just relaxing in the presence of his family for the first time in a while. Mom and Dad let one more episode of WordWorld play to make sure the twins were fully asleep before handing the remote to Caranthir.

“Nothing R-rated and keep the volume down,” Mom reminded as she scooped up one of the twins and Dad grabbed the other. Curufin had fallen asleep on the floor as well, and Maedhros shook him gently.

“C’mon,” Maedhros said, “I can’t carry you up the stairs. You’re too big for that.” Curufin stood up, grumbling all the while, and let Maedhros shuffle him to his room.

Maedhros tucked Curufin in like he used to, even though it wasn’t really necessary. “Night,” Curufin mumbled as Maedhros kissed his forehead goodnight, nestling himself further down into the blankets.

“Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite,” Maedhros said softly as he closed the door and turned toward his room, just as Mom and Dad were doing the same thing on the other side of the hallway.

“Did you eat dinner?” Mom asked before he opened his door.

Maedhros nodded. “I stopped at Lonely Tavern in Dale on the way here.”

Mom nodded, and he got one last hug from her and Dad before he went into his room. Maedhros took off his prosthetic, then showered, brushed his teeth, and changed into pajamas. Finally, he crawled into bed, exhausted from driving all day. He could hear the TV playing quietly downstairs, probably some cheesy sitcom that Caranthir and Hannah and Haleth weren’t really going to end up watching. He could also hear the TV in his parents’ room down the hall, clearer than the one downstairs, as Mom and Dad cycled through the available channels until they hit the Food Network.

None of the background noise was particularly loud, but it was a lot different than the University upperclassmen dorms he’d lived in for the last year. If Masters students wanted to make a lot of noise, they did it in the parking lot or in a bar off campus or really anywhere but the dorms, which meant that nights were usually dead quiet.

Despite this, Maedhros fell asleep faster than he had in years, content in the knowledge that his family were just a few short steps away.


End file.
